Solar Heaters
I built a solar heater into my house, and am testing it today. At noon the temperature in the solar heater reached above 80 F, and since then the temperature in the house has remained constant at 69 F - 71 F. This is all without using the furnace in my house. The temperature outside is around 35 F currently.
I built the solar heater into one of my windows. I constructed solar reflectors on the outside of the window, to bring more light into the house. On the inside of the window I put two tall mirrors at angles with the side of the window, standing up straight. Parallel with the window, and connected at 100 degree angles with the mirrors is a tall piece of sheet metal that I spray painted black.. I filled up all of the gaps with alluminum foil, and put a reflector on the floor of the solar heater. After this I covored the solar heater in a blanket to insulate it, and make it look nicer. The window faces south sun, and the top of the solar heater is exposed to let the hot air out into the rest of the house. At night, and in the morning, the heater insulates the window, and traps all of the cool air inside, and is still working to keep my house warm.
The design is based off of a solar oven, which people in third world countries use to boil water and cook food. Here are some photos.
http://www.permaculturegroup.org/solarheater1.gif - Outside http://www.permaculturegroup.org/solarheater2.gif - Inside